Can Euro 2016 unite European culture where politics has failed?

As the tournament kicks off, and the referendum approaches, can football heal a divided Europe?

By the time the UK finally votes in the referendum on 23 June, one pressing European question will already have been answered, because on 22 June the group stages of Euro 2016 will be complete and the fates thus far of England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be known. Not since England were beaten by West Germany in the quarter-finals of the 1970 World Cup, four days before polling, have the football and electoral timetable coincided so closely. Harold Wilson thought that both the appalling weather and the sour mood that followed that game contributed to a lower than expected turnout in the general election, which in turn furnished a wafer-thin victory for Edward Heath and the Conservatives. Might another disappointing run for England see fans, the majority in favour of Brexit in the polls that have been conducted, stay at home? Or could a blatant injustice perpetrated by a continental referee send them out in droves?

Though football is unlikely to have such a direct impact on the referendum result, it is some measure of the metaphorical and cultural significance of the game that Gordon Brown should come to preface his most significant intervention in the debate with the rhetorical question, “When Europe is the peak of ambition in football and we compete so ferociously to get there, why in other spheres of British life do so many seek to reject it?” The reasons “we” reject Europe are complex, but in football it is now transparently clear that gaining fourth spot in the Premier League and entry to Europe’s Champions League is, in terms of both status and finances, infinitely superior to winning the FA Cup. As the TV ratings and social media numbers for the Uefa Champions League and the Euros attest, no popular European cultural phenomenon comes close to football in engaging the British public. There has been no official pronouncement by the FA or the Premier League, but there is certainly quiet consternation among those members of the football establishment who have thought about the legal and financial implications of Brexit on player visas and recruitment.

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